With some of us still receiving festive cards well into the New Year, Citizens Advice reveals that an estimated 31 million people (60% of UK adults) were hit by letter delays this Christmas.
Worryingly, this left a projected 6.2 million people missing important mail like health appointment letters.
Amongst those who experienced delays this year:
- 11% (an estimated 3.2 million) said they missed an important document, such as an insurance letter or legal document.
- 8% (an estimated 2.1 million) said they missed a health appointment.
This is the third festive period in a row where Citizens Advice has called for the Royal Mail to improve its performance. Between mid-December 2021 and mid-January 2022, the charity found that 28% of us experienced letter delays. And 31% were also left waiting in January 2021. While postal strikes are one aspect of performance this year, this record of failure shows more deep-seated problems at play.
It’s perhaps little surprise that almost a quarter (23%) of people turned to more expensive products to send letters, such as Special Delivery Guaranteed, during Christmas 2022 . However, 39% of those who did still faced delays, despite paying extra.
Royal Mail has an obligation as Universal Service Provider to deliver mail on time, but it’s exempt from its targets around the Christmas period. Citizens Advice wants the regulator, Ofcom, to investigate Royal Mail’s performance in recent years and think again about not holding the firm to account over its performance during the festive period.
At the same time as this continued poor service, consumers had to pay almost 50% more for a 1st class stamp now than they did five years ago. Citizens Advice wants Royal Mail to scrap any further stamp price rises at a time when performance is so poor.
Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive at Citizens Advice, said:
“For a third year running, Royal Mail has let consumers down.
“Letter delays have real and worrying consequences, especially when people miss medical appointments or get bills late.
“Royal Mail’s virtual monopoly on letters means that Ofcom needs to take action to protect consumers from further harm. It must investigate Royal Mail’s culture of poor performance and stop letting the company off the hook over the festive season.”